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Beta Plans

Intro

I've been around mozilla.org full time for about a year now,
listening and learning and working in the background. My job as
general problem solver (aka Chief Lizard Wrangler) means I've
touched many aspects of the Mozilla project, although not the
code itself.

Now it's time to stop lurking. So I'll be writing a "column"
for the mozilla.org site from time to time when there's
something worth talking about; the first instance follows. I'm
not sure how often I'll do this or how regularly, but let me
know if you have topics you'd like me to address.

Beta Plans

There's a beta coming. That much is clear. Manifestations
include bugs in Bugzilla nominated for beta1 status,
postings from Jim Roskind of Netscape regarding Netscape's
plans, and the Drive
to Beta document. It's less clear what this "beta" is,
and what getting to "beta" means for the mozilla.org community.
This is particularly true since the target audience for the
Mozilla project is the developer community, and the target
audience for Netscape is an end user community; a beta for one
community might not be a beta for the other. So some focus may
be useful.

The upcoming beta is an early release of the mozilla-based
end-user product that Netscape is creating. It's a beta release
showcasing mozilla technology in a particular and high profile
end-user product: the next generation of Netscape's client
software. So it can be thought of as a Netscape release. We've
all been waiting for this and are excited to see the Netscape
product reach this state.

The coming beta is not a beta of the Mozilla codebase aimed
at the mozilla developer community. That's because a few
important elements of particular concern to developers (but
less to end users) remain in flux. For example, APIs have not
yet been finalized. We anticipate these features shortly, but
they are not yet done. Also, the mozilla irc client, an
important means by which active mozilla deveopers communicate
via IRC, is not available in the Netscape product. So the
Netscape beta will not be a release which developers can use to
participate in the full range of mozilla development
activities.

mozilla.org did label M13 as "Alpha". We've learned that
"alpha" and especially "beta" have a range of meanings, often
contradictory, depending on to whom one talks. Some believe
beta means feature complete and only bug fixing remains. Some
believe beta means the APIs should be frozen. Some believe that
beta is a word best used for end-user releases; others are
equally adamant that beta is best used for releases aimed at
developers.

mozilla.org will mark upcoming releases of particular
importance to the developer community. It's unclear whether we
should call that release (or those releases) "beta". If we do
use the word beta, we'll probably want a set of criteria that
explains what we think we mean. Otherwise, we're likely to
generate more confusion. Maybe we'll do something like identify
a milestone as the "Stability Release" or "API Release". It
might be something a bit new, as are many aspects of the
Mozilla project. This would also have the additional advantage
of reducing confusion with Netscape's ongoing activities. We're
not sure yet, we're looking for input.

We're working to label information more precisely so that
mozilla.org releases and product releases such as Netscape's
are more clearly identified. We hope these distinctions will
become clearer as we move forward. It would be simpler if
mozilla.org and Netscape were the same thing, producing the
same release for the same target audience. Simpler, but not
better. Netscape and mozilla.org are ultimately different
organisms, serving different target audiences. They have
complementary goals, but a decidedly different focus. Vive la
difference!